United States Public Service Academy

The United States Public Service Academy (S. 960 and H.R. 1671) is a proposed institution of higher education. The Academy would be a federally subsidized four-year college modeled on the United States military service academies devoted to public service. It was envisioned in 2006 and introduced into congress in 2007 and again in the next congress but did not pass.

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Applicants to the Academy would follow a congressional nomination process similar to that used for admission to the US service academies.

Once admitted, students would earn credits toward a Bachelor of Arts or Bachelor of Science degree. Students would be required to choose a public service concentration in the field in which they ultimately will serve post-graduation.

Graduates would be required to serve the United States for five years in the public sector.

Failure to complete five years of service would result in a dishonorable discharge from the Academy. Delinquent graduates would be required to repay the cost of their education.

The Academy would subsidize its students’ graduate education in return for an extended service commitment. For every year of subsidized graduate education, students must add two additional years to their service commitment.[1]

Criticism of the Academy has focused mainly on the flexibility and cost-effectiveness of the model. Maxwell School professors David Van Slyke and Alasdair Roberts wrote that the proposed academy would be redundant to the missions of the 150 undergraduate and graduate public affairs programs already in existence, whose breadth and diversity could never be matched by a single institution.[2][3] They contend that a nationwide tuition reimbursement program resembling ROTC would be better suited to the training of young civil servants.